


You've Got This

by akasharpiegirl



Series: Fight On, Fighter. [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst and Feels, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Irondad, Lots of Angst, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, vent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-15 18:24:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19301290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akasharpiegirl/pseuds/akasharpiegirl
Summary: TW// Medical jargon, talks of bullying, and anxiety/depression. Please do not read if you think you will be triggered.Morgan Stark was 26 months old when life took a sharp turn on the Stark's life. She got extremely sick. Thus, causing a brain aneurysm, which then caused a diagnosis of Hemiparesis (Paralysis of one side of the body). Over time, she relearned how to walk and talk, but struggles with math are just around the corner and it is still obvious that Morgan has an abnormality compared to the rest of the kids her age. This story picks up on her first day of kindergarten and ballet.





	You've Got This

**Author's Note:**

> * This is based on my own issues and I work through my issues with fanfiction. This series will probably be extremely sad at some parts but it'll get better, I swear.   
> Though I hope you enjoy it, nonetheless!

“Good morning, little miss,” Tony walked into Morgan’s room. It was Morgan’s first day of kindergarten, and Tony was scared for her, if he was honest. “First day of school, kiddo. Gotta get moving.”

A mumbled “No, I don’t wanna” came from Morgan. 

He felt like laughing at her response until he remembered what her preschool experience was like. Protecting Morgan was the only thing Tony wanted to do upon Morgan’s birth, and yet as soon as her life changed in January 2020, he couldn’t anymore. And barely eight months after being diagnosed with Hemiparesis, she had to start preschool. (Against Tony and Pepper’s initial opinion of that idea, it seemed too risky. They wanted to give her at least a year before starting school.) She woke up excited and came home sad. When Tony and Pepper had asked her what happened at school, all she said was a returning question, ‘why?’ That one small word spoke volumes and it broke both of them to realize how difficult it would be for her to find friends. (Not even counting the fact she’s a Stark.) 

“If you don’t get up for school, Mommy and I can’t take you to ballet,” Tony said, now by Morgan’s bed. 

Morgan’s head shot up at the mention of ballet, grumbling under her breath. “Okay.” 

Tony helped Morgan put on her thumb splint before either of them spoke again. “When you take a nap, have your teacher or parapro take this off okay?”, Tony asked, pointing to the splint.

“Mhm, I know,” Morgan answered. 

 

Pepper and Tony walked Morgan down the kindergarten hall of her new school, stopping in front of her new teacher’s room. They missed open house the week prior, the three of them were coming back from a New York City outing that day and Morgan was too tired for another stop outside of the house. (Plus, Tony and Pepper were exhausted from the day too.)  
Her teacher wrapped up her conversation with another family, turning toward them. Morgan quickly scanned over the big room. “Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Stark! I’m sorry you guys couldn’t make it out to open house last week. Thank you for requesting for the PDFs of the handouts I gave out that night, though.” Her vision snapped from soft focusing on Pepper and Tony and then she looked at Morgan. “I’m Miss. Rogers, or Miss. Angela if you prefer that. You must be the famous Morgan I’ve heard so much about in emails and calls.” 

Morgan grinned as she waved to Angela with her left hand as her right hand tensed at the realization of having to meet a new person, “Hi.” Morgan quickly shook it off though. 

Angela waved back with her left. “You’re a leftie too!”

“Mhm,” Morgan answered.

“Go put your backpack in your cubby over there, Mrs. Pate can help you find it,” Miss. Rogers pointed to the area, and Morgan left momentarily. 

Tony looked at Pepper, shock spreading on his face. “Pep, did you not tell me-”

Pepper rolled her eyes, stopping Tony mid-sentence, “I did tell you her last name was Rogers. It's a common last name.”

“I’m just shocked,” Tony muttered. 

“I have no relation to Captain Rogers aside from the fact that my older brother growing up was so mad we weren’t related to him,” Angela laughed, overhearing the conversation. Morgan was back as soon as Angela finished that statement. “Though my students are convinced otherwise.” Angela flipped through the nametags that were wrapped around her right arm, stopping at Morgan’s, pulling it from the tangled mess, and handing it to Morgan. Angela’s right hand tensed up at the unexpected movement and wouldn’t ease up for a moment.

Tony and Pepper both noticed but made no mention of it since Morgan was in earshot. 

“Mr. and Mrs. Stark, do you have any further questions?”, Angela asked.

“No, ma’am, but thank you for asking,” Pepper explained. 

“I do want to talk to you two before you leave though,” Angela explained, she looked over her shoulder to what appeared to be a math manipulations station. “I’ll come back in a second, yeah?” Angela walked away from the family of three. 

Tony and Pepper leaned down to Morgan’s height. “I know this is new, but if you hate it after the end of fall we can think of something else out, okay?”, Pepper asked.

Morgan nodded.

“Love you tons, Maguna. You’re going to do great, little miss,” Tony said to Morgan, giving her a forehead kiss after. (He wouldn’t lie if you were to ask him if he was fighting back tears at that moment. It's emotional for any parent, but especially if you never thought you’d even be offered the life of being a Dad and on top of that, you have the role of raising a kid who almost died at 26 months.)

“Love you tons, Morgan. I know you’re scared, but your Dad is right. You’ll do great. And two thirty will be here before you know it,” Pepper said to her, kissing her forehead as well. (Pepper was scared too.) “Dad will pick you up from now on, alright? Oh, and you can have a popsicle before dinner tonight. But just this once I will allow it. I’ll try to get home so I can help Dad get you ready for dance class too.”

The family of three hugged before Pepper and Tony found their way back to the classroom door. 

“I don’t know if you’ve figured it out by now or not but, there’s a specific reason Morgan got placed in this class,” Angela said upon greeting Tony and Pepper again, nodding to her limp right hand. “Just know that I know what it’s like to grow up with it, I was born with Hemiparesis. From my own experience, I know how cruel kids can be and having an ally who 100% gets it can make a heck of a difference in a kid’s schooling, especially if they are a teacher or friend.” 

“Thank you,” Pepper and Tony stated in unison. 

“If I see any bullying, even the slightest tease, directed toward her I will let you know as soon as I can and it won’t be tolerated in my classroom, I assure you,” Angela assured. 

 

As Tony was making a beeline for the exit, he saw his wife walking back to her office, so he turned on his heels, and met up with her for a moment.

“Have you been able to focus today?”, Pepper greeted him.

Tony shook his head no immediately, “Not exactly, even though I know Morgan’s got a good teacher in her corner. I hope you were able to focus. What was that meeting about earlier?”

“Deciding how many paid internship applicants we will be able to accept this coming spring and summer,” Pepper answered. “I’m going to take a look at the data this evening once I can actually focus for more than five minutes.”

“They know the reason I can’t make it to the meeting I’m supposed to attend, right?”, Tony asked.

“Yes, they do. Though I’m recording and writing down the important stuff for you to look over when I get home tonight. They know we’d get Happy to take her if he wasn’t supposed to be at the meeting too,” Pepper answered. 

“Well, I’m heading out to pick her up from school and I’ll keep you updated,” Tony said before turning back around.

 

“Morgan Stark, your ride is here sweetheart!”, an employee called out, causing Morgan to stop aimlessly kicking her legs back and forth as she sat on the bench outside. She jumped off the bench and walked with an assistant over to her Dad’s car.

A moment later she hopped into the backseat, buckled herself in, and the teacher who called her name had closed the door for her.

Tony looked back at Morgan as he waited for the car line to move forward, seeing Morgan show off a pleasant smile. (Unlike her first day of pre-k.) “How’d your first day go?”, Tony asked, looking back at the road in front of him, which was now clear to go, so he did.

“It was good, I guess,” Morgan answered.

“You sure?”, Tony asked. 

“Mhm, it was fun!”, Morgan confirmed. It was quiet again, Morgan was now fixated on the Stitch plush she had with her in the backseat. (Morgan must've snuck that in this morning because it wasn't there last night.)

Tony peered into the rearview mirror, before sighing, looking back at the road, and asking, “Were Miss. Angela and Mrs. Pate nice?” 

Morgan looked up, “Yeah, they were.”

‘Am I going to have to pry answers from her?’, Tony thought. “What did you do at school, Maguna? You said it was fun, what was your favorite part?”

“Hmm,” Morgan stated. “Lunch ‘cause… it’s lunch.”

Tony laughed at his daughter’s comment. “Makes perfect sense, kiddo. Lunch is always the best. Are you going to tell Mommy and me more about your day when we take you to dance?”

“Maybe,” Morgan answered.

 

“Did you have any luck with her hair?”, Pepper teased Tony.

“Just because I can’t fix fallen curls in your hair doesn’t mean I’m incapable of putting Morgan’s hair up in a bun,” Tony quickly defended himself.

“If it took you less time than it takes for me I’m officially passing over the ‘do Morgan’s hair’ task to you, babe,” Pepper mumbled.

“Took me ten minutes,” Tony answered.

Morgan came down the stairs a moment later, her dance bag in hand, and shoes on her feet. “No, it didn’t, Daddy. You liar.” Morgan’s bangs were braided along the right side of her head (not tight enough to show her surgical scar), and was pulled into a rope twist braid. 

Tony’s eyes widened at the fact his cover had been blown, causing Pepper to quietly laugh. “How long did it take Daddy to do your hair?”

“I don’t know, but it felt like forever!”, Morgan states matter-of-factly. 

“Oh, that's just mean,” Tony retorted, displaying minor sadness across his face for a moment.

“You did good, she’s just giving you a hard time,” Pepper smiled as the family of three headed to Morgan’s first dance class. “Anything longer than a minute to a kindergartner is forever.”

“Yeah, I know,” Tony laughed.

“Speaking of, you never updated me,” Pepper looked at Tony. 

“She wouldn’t be specific,” Tony answered.

 

Morgan nervously entered the dance studio, but as soon as she saw a familiar face with red and blond hair braided on the side, all of her worries went away. “Aunt Nat!”, Morgan jumped into Natasha’s arms. “I missed you!”

“Oh that’s right, I did see your beautiful name on the sign-up sheet! I missed you too,” Natasha smiled at Peeper’s and Tony’s child, who just naturally started to call her ‘Aunt Nat’ after one of their dinners. She set Morgan down a moment later, “You started kindergarten today, right? How was that?”

“It was fun, Miss. Angela had us write our names down on this big sheet of paper. And at the end of the day, we all made about us signs!”, Morgan said, extending her arms wide to express how big the paper was, her right arm drooping slightly. 

“That’s so cool!”, Natasha smiled at her ‘niece’. “You want to go over there and stretch out with me?” Natasha pointed to the group of kids who were already stretching with the teacher’s helper.

Natasha held onto Morgan’s small hand and walked over to the group with her. 

 

Morgan had run to the couch as soon as Tony unlocked the door to their home, and only ten minutes later, Morgan had passed out. It wasn’t quite her bedtime yet, but Tony or Pepper would move her to her bed eventually. 

Instead, the couple sat down together on the loveseat, talking quietly about anything and everything.

It was dead silent outside of the crickets outside their home and their own quiet breathing that filtered through the lake house. Tony pursed his lips together into a faint smile.

“What’s that for?”, Pepper asked, noticing it. “Not that I want your smile to leave.”

“It’s the craziest thing, Pep,” Tony simply stated. 

Pepper raised her eyebrow at his statement, “How so?”

“If someone would’ve told me in 2010 that I’d be married to the girl I had just started dating at that point, in eight years time, I would’ve said that they were crazy. And to think that sometime after marrying that girl, we’d have a beautiful little girl, that’s insane to me… Since meeting Harley and Peter, that was when having a kid was something I wanted. I just didn't know if my desire to have a family was crazy based on all of the stuff I’ve been through,” Tony answered. “But I have you sitting next to me and our sleeping princess over there to prove I wasn’t crazy to wish for this.”

Pepper squeezed Tony’s hand, giving him a reassuring smile. 

“I didn’t deserve the domestic life, half the time I believe I still don’t. I don’t think I deserve the title of ‘worlds best dad’ but you and Morgan seem to think otherwise. I’m too much like my father to believe I could be a good dad to Morgan. And, Pep?”, Tony rambled on, feeling comfort in holding onto Pepper’s hand. “When Morgan got sick, geez… My whole world got pulled out from under me. Of all the parenting books I read and classes I went to, nothing I spent time to read or go to prepared me for how stressful those few months would be. The day you had to go back to work, the same day Morgan had her… had her surgery, I practically lost my mind that day. What did I do? What could I have done differently? Was the reason Morgan was being put through such pain was because of me? You seemed far more capable of that endeavor than I ever did.”

“Well, I promise you that I was handling it just as well as you were behind my office doors that day. I delayed all of my meetings for that day until two months later. Bad business decision on my part, but what else was I supposed to do? Attend the meetings in a poor state and make big decisions that could have possibly been bad for our company or reschedule said meetings and make better decisions?”, Pepper said. “And you, you’re the best dad Morgan could have. It’s like a switch went off in your brain the minute you found out that Morgan was going to be in our life. You didn’t realize it at first, but you were and are capable. You took none of those parental skills you have from your father, believe me. You took the night shift with her so many times when I had barely gotten any sleep… thank you for that, by the way.”

“Of course,” Tony quietly interrupted.

“Moving on with what I was saying, though. You tell her every single chance you get that you love her and are proud of her. You know how important that is to a kid, not through the best way, did you know. But nonetheless, you know how important those words are. You take her on ice cream dates, you take her to father-daughter dances every year, you took her to see Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty when I couldn’t break away from my work in time. Those are just a few examples, if I were to list them all in one sitting I’d have to miss work tomorrow. Just being in her life, making her a priority to you, that makes you a thousand times better of a father than you think you are.” 

An hour later, when Tony was closing the door after tucking Morgan into her actual bed, he mumbled, “Fight on, fighter. You’ve got this.” (Which was the same thing he told her on the day he will forever know as the day Morgan began to walk again after her surgery.)


End file.
